beards: they grow on you

Saturday, 10 September 2016

Thank you very much for another bonkers fun day ^_^ We raised £227 for Freshfields Animal Rescue and Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS)and we had a great time doing it!

The winners then?

Monster Beard winner Rob Young

Freak Freestyle winner Tim Hodge

Business Beard winner Danny Maxwell

Moustache winner Martin Doherty

Homemade winner Lorraine Howard

Partial Beard winner Simon Sheffield

Beard I'd Like To Fondle (BILF) winner Brian Eva

Beerdfester winner Michael 'John Bull' Wallage

THANKS! Thanks to brilliant venue manager Becky at Constellations - without whom I could not do my Beerdfest! Thanks to the wonderful team who looked after us on the day too, think you can still grab a Beerdfest beer (from Liverpool Craft Beer) behind the bar if you're quick!Thanks to our ace judge panel this year - Richard Singleton from The Essential Journal, Roger Phillips (wonderful last minute stand in for lovely daughter Ellie Philips), Michael 'chops' Wallage and boss beard art maker Maya Battle - for giving up time to come along and do the points bit as the beards did their catwalk thing and thanks to Ben Power for the sounds as we catwalked! Ta to our ace acoustic music makers !!! Maddie Stenberg, SheBeat, Neildsy, Joe Kelly (JG & The Pelato), Benn Helm - (and almost Liz Owen and Eleanor Nelly too... long story!) Thanks to our generous partners this year Beard of Liverpool, Attitude for Men (L1 Topshop), Lush Spa Liverpool, The British Beard Club, Liverpool Craft Beer, Mariner Jack, Bristlr App and everyone else who donated prizes in our charity raffle including Old Country Gent, Bearded Birmingham, Sumatran Orangutan Society and our beardy legend patron SIR BRIAN BLESSED!!! Thanks to awesome pictures from Georgia Flynn Creative & Bluethumb Photography. All rights reserved 2016. See you next time? ;)

Friday, 5 August 2016

Saturday 3rd September is World Beard Day, but it’s also the fifth annual BeerdFest -Liverpool's original beard and moustache contest!

The popular festival – endorsed by bearded legend Brian Blessed - offers beer and respect to winners, and a great day out for contestants and spectators from across the North.

A fab local music line up will accompany thebeard fun at our home in the Baltic Triangle, Constellations from 2pm.

Beard contesting gets started at 4pm hosted by the tashwag/ organiser Jodie Schofield and Tom Singleton from The Essential Journal, when the best in northern facial hair hits the catwalk, a sight not to be missed! Save the date for a great day out!

Brian Blessed is patron and supporter of the festival: "It's delightful that people are coming together and celebrating beards. I've always enjoyed mine. If you want a fun day out, Beerdfest in Liverpool will do the trick."

Raising money for local charities via donations and a raffle, Beerdfest has gone from strength to strength since it started in 2012, and thanks to its popularity, has inspired the national contest to come to Liverpool later this year.

Festival creator Jodie Schofield loves hosting the hairy event: “Beerdfest is such a fun day for all the family. Hundreds of beards and beard lovers join us every World Beard Day to celebrate beards.Beards, beer and music is just a winning combination – what’s not to like? With folks coming from across the North West, and beyond, we’re probably Liverpool's most fun festival!"

Judges 2016

Previous Best Partial Beard champion Michael Wallage will make his debut on the judge panel, joined by fabulously bearded Richard Singleton from The Essential Journal, and Chris Edwards, local hipster and moustachioed chap. And making sure the bearded style is on point – Ellie Phillips!

Friday, 20 May 2016

Once upon a time in Liverpuddle... I started a beard and moustache contest called BeerdFest... Little did I know what an adventure it was about to be!!!

Back in 2007 I started this beard blog after attending the World Championships held, that year, in Brighton, where I happened to be visiting a best friend... I met lots of wonderful folks including this guy Jack, who was then Full Natural Beard Champion, and was instantly sucked into the fabulous world that is beard contesting!!!In Liverpool in 2012 on a dreary mid-week December night I held my first BeerdFest, a direct reaction to the UK contest being hosted in the South East, I wanted to make bearding fun for northerners! I discovered a wonderful organisation called The British Beard Club were the people to know and David Dade the President was kind and welcoming of my event... (He even came up to judge a couple of times all the way from Brighton). More folks than I could have ever imagined showed up - clearly this was what everyone had been waiting for! A chance to show off their glorious follicle prowess on my catwalk! So we did it again the following year and that time around somehow I organised giving Brian Blessed a Lifetime Achievement Award... which he accepted in a way only Brian can ^_^ Beerdfest 2014 - Life time achievement award - Brian Blessed from Beerdfest Liverpool on Vimeo.Henceforth, Brian became patron of the festival - who better to fly our flag?! We supported men's mental health campaigners C.A.L.M. and helped to promote #SaveTheMale in 2014 - by this time word in the beard community (yes that's a real thing, and it's filled with lovely awesome sorts of folks) had spread, Beerdfest was on the map! People loved it! People came from far and wide - Brighton, Essex, the Midlands, Yorkshire, Blackpool - even the Wirral! (local joke there kids) #wow !!!Then in 2015 I stalked Seasick Steve to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award which I'm sure he still keeps in a safe place...

THEN in 2015 the maddest thing happened!!! Remember, if you will, how I started this fun to give northeners some beard-glory? WELL thanks to the local beard club (who met each other and formed at Beerdfest 2012) the national contest is being held this year.... (drumroll) ... IN LIVERPOOL!!!Surely am now deserving of some kind of blue plaque for bringing awesome beards to the city?! Very proud of my efforts and long may fabulous beards be welcome in the beautiful north ^_^

So - THANKYOU to everyone who has supported, attended, competed with us along the way... Without you it simply wouldn't happen!!! 2016 here we are, year FIVE of the fest... Let's do it all again on World Beard Day, Saturday September 3rd - come along! You might love it as much as I do ^_^ Ps. Look for us in these exciting places should you feel the urge: www.facebook.com/beerdfest www.twitter.com/beerdfestlpoolwww.instagram.com/beerdfest

Thursday, 8 October 2015

These are a couple of beards I met in New York on my recent visit... The white bearded gent is Andre, a classical trombonist no less! I met him outside the Seinfeld cafe (Tom's Restaurant)uptown Manhattan and he was nice enough to allow me to take his picture for this blog... It's mostly a lot of fun to approach strangers in the street to ask to snap their bearded glory - they're both surprised and flattered usually and keen to be involved, it's a little bit of extra joy in both our days ^_^ My friend Gene, who also does a blog of which there is a book too) papped me popping the question - see how charming I am? haha

The dark bearded chap is Jeff who is an actor/ barman. I met Jeff while attending the open mic night at The West on Union Ave/ Hope St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He said the beard had been off and on for a number of years, only ever coming off for a part... I think it really suits him tho...

I'm going to be trawling the North West of England for awesome beards in the run up to BeerdFest 2016(our 5th birthday!)so if you know of an awesome beard in the neighbourhood I'm happy taking tips!

Thursday, 27 August 2015

BeerdFest is a week on Saturday (September 5th) and it's also #WorldBeardDay so be prepared for a day of much beard love, beer, music and fun times ^_^

Kicking off at 3pm at Constellations you can buy a ticket/ perk here via our crowd fund site from just £5 or just pay on the day - the money raised ahead of Saturday just helps with our set up costs...

Looking likely we'll have a lumberjack corner, a bit of beard grooming from Lush Liverpool, a food contest later on, and boss live music from 4pm.. but mostly you'll need to know that the contest starts at 9pm, which means registrations for the contest (if haven't already registered via email to: beerdfest liverpool at gmail dot com) close at 8pm... The categories are Best Beard/ Moustache/ Partial/ Fake and some extra prizes up for grabs that are open to all including audience members are Best BILF/ Badass (freestyle)/ BeerdFester (awarded this year by local thatch The Liverbeards)...

You can join our event page on Facebook here and invite all your beard loving friends... there's a community page at facebook.com/beerdfest and we're on twitter @BeerdFestLpool

CALM are coming along to raise awareness of their services, and our judges this year are from The British Beard Club, Bristlr and CutThroatPete... a HUGE ta to Liverpool Craft Beer who are once again providing us with the prize beers ^_^

Monday, 27 July 2015

On Saturday 5th September it's World Beard Day, but it is also time for Liverpool's favourite annual beard and moustache contest BeerdFest!

It's the fourth outing of the popular festival which offers BEER & RESPECT to winners, and a great day out for all who attend! Simply put, BeerdFest is beards, beer and music!

This time around we're back with a fantastic line up of acoustic music to accompany beard grooming and wood chopping at our home in the Baltic Triangle, Constellations, as well as beer tasting and a food contest! Join us from 3pm and hear acoustic delights from the likes of local singer songwriters SheBeat, K'sChoice himself Derek King, the one and only Neildsy, Liverpool blues boys John Hall and Joe Kelly, all the way from Canada eh? Darren Eedens & his fine moustache to name just a few! Later on, the only beard contest in town hosted by the tashwag, starring the best facial hair from around the UK, hits the catwalk - it's not to be missed!

Register your category or just book your ticket for a great day and prepare to be amazed!
There are prizes for Best Beard, Moustache, Partial and Fake, and it's not just for boys, the Fake award (for ladies and babyfaces) is hotly contested, very creative and most entertaining! Audience members can also go home winners with Best BeerdFester, BILF and BeerdFest BadAss (Freestyle) up for grabs!
Email your category of choice to beerdfestliverpool@gmail.com To ATTEND the Fest order your tickets via our crowdfunder campaign
The contest is just £5 to attend... 3pm - late Prizes this year come courtesy of Liverpool Craft Beer, Liverbeards, The British Beard Club, and Lush Spa LiverpoolBeerdFest was created by organiser Jodie Schofield in 2012 who is thrilled with the popularity of the festival: “BeerdFest is better every year, hundreds of beard lovers joining us for the fun times. Brian Blessed remains our bearded Patron, wood chopping and beer tasting are added to the mix this September, and as well as awards for our fantastic contestants we'll be celebrating our audience too... Not only is Beerdfest the hairiest, but likely Liverpool's most fun festival!"

Judges this year are President of the British Beard Club David Dade, Bristlr beardlovers app chief beard fancier Stephanie Wedderburn, and beardy barber to the stars Cut Throat Pete. A special Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced to a very bearded blues man and Patron Brian Blessed is a huge supporter of the festival: "It's delightful that people are coming together and celebrating beards. I've always enjoyed mine. If you want a fun day out, Beerdfest in Liverpool will do the trick."

BeerdFest supports men's mental health charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably): "With suicide now the biggest killer of men under 50 in this country, it is brilliant to see such a great partnership between BeerdFest and CALM continuing. Every year it gets bigger and better, much like some of the beards that enter. We're thrilled to work with such a great bunch of people who love beards and care about men's wellbeing."
Jodie has produced a beard-watching picture blog at www.tashwags.blogspot.com since attending the World Beard & Moustache Championships in 2007. The World Championships are being held in Austria this year in November. Like and Share us at Facebook Follow and RT us on Twitter @beerdfestlpool The beard blog that inspired BeerdFest www.tashwags.blogspot.com est. 2007 For more info email beerdfestliverpool[at]gmail.com

Who the heck loves beards this much?!

I enjoy writing about the little things in life, I also like taking pictures of lovely stuff I come across like buildings and beards!
I tweet @jodiejodejodes
and I sing at soundcloud.com/shebeat
hope you enjoy my blogs...